Betterment Policies

Government likely to release policy for software products industry soon

Services sector has been particularly important for India. To date, the service sector has not been a major target of innovation policy. However, very soon government may release the draft of a policy that seeks to help the software products industry grow like IT services sector, for consultation. The poilcy is likely to be announced by IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad during the twoyear celebration of the Narendra Modi government.
The main aim of this policy on software products is aimed at creating an ecosystem for the industry and address key issues that it faces. The official who requested to be anonymous added that, “the main idea behind the policy is to address the basic issue that India has done so well in the area of IT services, but there is a huge market which is yet to be tapped in terms of software products.” So, many firms effectively serve as a platform for experimentation with service-sector innovation. He also further said that, “India has innovative companies that have the potential to bring out world class software products. There are already some companies doing a great job, we have to figure out a way of how to support the eco system further in terms of providing encouragement through incentives and various other measures.”
The draft policy is expected to be out for public consultation in the next couple of weeks. Over the last 12-18 months, a significant number of software product companies have come up in the country and experts say the industry could flourish if the government provides the right support.
According to estimates, Indian software products industry index grew by 26.6% in 2015. About 80% of this growth came from companies focused on global markets. Druva, Freshdesk, Capillary, Nandan Nilekani-backed Team Indus, Forus Health, Julia and car firm Savari are examples of product companies that have made a name recently.